Oncor’s subcontractors were on the East side (East MC Court area) for a little over a week and appear to have completed the work they were doing.
As a result, there are piles of dirt near the transformers and other areas they excavated and a lot of the grass isn’t there now.
They will be sending out another crew to take care of this over the next few weeks or so. They have replanted the grass on previous visits here and returned things to as they found them.
We will start off the 2018 mowing season next week.
Mowing will start on the West side on Tuesday, March 13th,
and the East side on Wednesday, March 14th.
We will have a work crew on East Mountain Creek Court tomorrow, as evidenced by the equipment they staged this evening (right). The machine to the right is a Ditch Witch type machine, so they can insert conduits (electrical piping) between the transformers along the East MC Court area and connect to East MC Drive. They will be all over the area and it will be somewhat loud.
The object of installing underground conduit is to make the cable changes between transformers much easier than having to trench them all up as they have done previously.
The 2018 Painting schedule is 2 thru 54 West Creek Lane, and 1 thru 69 West Mountain Creek Drive. This is a total of 62 townhouses.
We do required repairs, then notify residents prior to power washing so they can move things away from the house.
On Friday, we were informed of an animal attack on West Townhouse Lane, near the pool area, at about 3AM. Most of the animals in the woods are nocturnal, but I have seen a large opossum wandering around in daylight. So far, my Border Collie-Springer Spaniel mix has killed 2 juvenile possums that were in my back yard; he still checks out the tree every time he goes out in the yard. He does not like possums, it seems, or birds sitting on the fence.
No one is sure which one of the critter in the woods was responsible for the attack; some say it was a coyote, but we do know that a cat was attacked and crawled into the pool area and expired. Animal Control was called to remove the deceased cat.
Anyone who allows their cat to roam the property needs to be aware that there are large enough animals in the woods capable of causing severe damage to your pets. This is another reason to keep dogs on a leash and under your control. We cannot be sure it was not a stray dog or one that residents allow to roam free and unattended. However, it is more likely it was a wild animal. As the weather warms up, we will see more wild animals on property.
The moral of this story is to keep your pets indoors at night. If you do see any critters wandering our property, call GP Animal Services, (972) 237-8575
As of today, the local area has received almost 5 inches of rainfall in 2018. That is a record, to say the least, and the reason flood warnings were issued. Plus, it is going to rain more tomorrow, but the forecast says we are partly sunny for the next week.
All of our common areas are totally saturated, and as some might have noticed that even though it has not rained for a few days, we still have streams of water running down some of our streets. The ground can only hold so much water and then runoff occurs. Several residents have called the office about water standing in the some places of our common areas. The ground is as wet as it can possibly get and just cannot hold any more water. Until the grounds dry up more, we cannot mow or paint the fronts of houses on the 2018 paint schedule because the ground is too wet for our ladders. We are painting the backs of houses on the paint schedule and doing what landscaping we can with string trimmers and hedge trimmers so our crew can accomplish something. Once we get a bit more dried out, mowing will begin in earnest.
We had a pre-emergent treatment from TruGreen scheduled but the grounds were to wet for it, so it was postponed.
The March 2nd GP Pipeline is posted.
Lately,we have been sending out a lot of Warnings to properties that place their trash bags out the night before trash pickup days. To some, this seems rather innocuous. But in the grand scheme of things, it merely invites critters to tear open these trash bags and scatter thrash everywhere. This is why we do not want trash sitting out over night. This is also a rule of the HOA.
The forms we send out also tell residents that they can put trash out the night before ONLY if it is in a tightly lidded non-metallic trash can. This does not mean you can put one or two bags in the trash can and then surround it with 10 more plastic trash bags. All bags must be inside the trash can, or you can set these bags out in the morning.
It is a big deal when we have to stop and gather up the scattered trash when people do not follow the rules. It is also a health and safety hazard, something for which we can issue fines without notice.
Below is what the City of Grand Prairie has posted on the Nextdoor website: (emphasis added by me)
Keep Wildlife in the Wild
It’s almost spring, which means wildlife might start appearing near your home. Many types of wildlife are attracted to our yards because food is plentiful and easy to obtain. Being aware of your potential contribution to this environment helps reduce nuisance animal incidents in your area.
• Avoid feeding wild animals, including birds. Birdseed attracts rats and other rodents, a known food source for predators like coyotes.
• Keep your pets inside and under your control at all times. An animal allowed to roam off-leash, even in your front yard, presents an easy meal for a predator.
• Secure your trash and trash cans. Don’t place trash outside overnight or the day before pickup. Keep your garbage in your garage or in a secure trash can (not plastic bags) until the morning of pickup.
• Clean your property to remove overgrowth and underbrush. This helps eliminate nesting or denning sites for wildlife.
• Pick up any fruits or vegetables at ground level; various wild animals enjoy these types of food.
You can find more useful tips and procedures on the Animal Services website: http://bit.ly/GP_Wildlife
We have Oncor and their subcontractors doing work on property on both sides. There is a crew on East Mountain Creek Court running some new cables between the transformers. There is also a temporary wire running across West Townhouse Lane. The operative word is “temporary”. This wire will be buried soon enough.
We have had a few calls to the Office about this wire and we cannot stop any utility company from repairing or upgrading their equipment that is on our property. These buried power cables are over 45 years old in most cases and they are failing. All of our 416 units would like to have continuous electricity so we have to endure some temporary cables on occasion.
I would imagine that Oncor and their subcontractors will be on property updating things for some period of time.